UnknownmiX – Chew Some More

Zürich-based label Lux Rec release some native Swiss material with Chew Some More, a refined taster of the band UnknownmiX. The group, who were active from 1983 to 1992, put out five LPs and three EPs of material during their time as a creative unit, and the music contained within this physical output often strayed from experimental to new wave, and also incorporated many industrial sounds into the mix. Lux Rec have pored over UnknownmiX’s back catalogue for this latest addition, selecting “[four] tracks that [fit] perfectly to the [label‘s] tonal view”; as a means of introducing new listeners to the unforgettable sounds of UnknownmiX, Chew Some More most certainly does succeed.

Opener ‘Chew the Gun’ makes use of some truly disorientating tones, electronic squelches and slowly unfurling percussion to create a general feeling of unease and bizarre spectacle, setting the mood in the process. Another highlight, ‘The Siren’ fully showcases the unique vocalism that permeates much of the group’s discography, with Magda Vogel’s European lilt and stern shout giving her words real gravitas.

‘Glitter’ begins the B-side with some crunching, muscular synths that prove to be the foundation for some deranged vocal yelps that repeat the same phrases over and over, to varying degrees of intensity, until the track’s incandescent sparkle is abruptly extinguished. The ominously literal soundscape of ‘Heavy Metal’ also proves to be a key example of the group’s infatuation with visceral, physically realised music, and is a worthy closer to this very fine and equally strange sampler EP.